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Adoption Stories
By Sylvia Ewing
Child Link is an efficiently-run foster care agency which also offers adoptions, youth counseling, and homeless youth intervention—but it's so much more. Child Link makes dreams come true by making a family experience possible for people from all walks of life. Meet just of few of the lives touched by the Child Link team:
Leonardo L. and his partner Christopher H. were prepared to have a long wait to adopt a child, but they were in for a surprise. "I finished the training classes," explains Leo, "and we got the call almost right away." Illinois law requires that kids from Spanish speaking families be placed with foster parents who speak Spanish. Leo and Christopher met these criteria, and they've enjoyed raising a bilingual child. Their foster son was born to drug addicted parents. When he arrived at the home of Leo and Chris, it was the third location he'd been placed in during his short 3 months of life. His name is Angel and he is now a lively, happy preschooler who makes his presence felt in the home in a big way.
"My world is brighter thanks to our son," says Leo proudly. "We love the swings, and toys, and all of the kid stuff…. It is not always easy, but being a parent has changed my life in a wonderful way." Leo and his partner are currently in the process of adopting Angel. Child Link has made it possible for their family dreams to become a reality.
Ann Marie G. had a great life with her husband Jim, her 11-year-old son and the family dog. She also knew that they wanted to share that life. "We have been really blessed, and we wanted to give another child a great life." Now she not only has achieved her goal, but she's also become somewhat of an expert on transracial adoption with a blog and a website on the issue!
Ann Marie and her husband had ruled out an international adoption. "We knew from Child Link that there are many children right here that need a home," she says. "We did not want to upset birth order, [and] did not care about gender or race." She and her husband made the commitment to receive the required training. They took class on different days so that they would not need childcare for their son, but they also benefited from learning from others in their different courses. After their training was completed, they still did not know if a call would come, and so they took things one day as a time as they waited. "Then it happened fast and it was so exciting!" They got "the call" about a baby girl.
Now Ann Marie is mother to a three-year-old daughter and has learned how wonderful and how challenging it can be to be white parents of an African-American child. Ann Marie feels it is important for her daughter to have personal relationships with African-Americans. "You can't just read Maya Angelou," she says jokingly. "We're lucky to have resources and to live near a rich urban center."